Giardia in Dogs

Chestle

Chestle

Well-known member
Just had the annual checkups for the Labs. 2 out of 3 showed giardia in the fecal test. (new send-it-out-to-a-laboratory fecal test is $56 now!) So the vet prescribes ~ $160 in meds for each dog.

Now a little history. I've had Labs since '81. Always got checkups, always had fecal tests done. Until vets started sending fecal tests out to laboratory, they did fecal flotation test with salt. Poop sank, parasite eggs floated to the top. Giardia are microscopic protozoan parasites; the flotation tests didn't show them. So for 40+ years I never had a vet tell me the fecal test showed giardia.

Giardia are everywhere in the environment. It's almost unavoidable. "Giardia parasites can be transmitted by eating or sniffing the cysts from contaminated surfaces like grass at the park, or by drinking contaminated water. Since dogs explore the world around them by putting things in their mouths, there are plenty of ways your dog can pick up the parasite in their environment, whether it is by chewing on a stick, eating (or just sniffing) poop, or drinking from a puddle."

So odds are that over the last 40+ years some or all of my dogs had Giardia. So what to do?

Giardia: Infection, treatment and prevention

Overview Giardiasis is a common parasitic infection that can cause diarrhea in dogs. It is caused by an intestinal parasite called Giardia, which can be found in feces-contaminated soil, food and water. Some dogs infected with Giardia may not show any signs of infection, but younger dogs or dogs...
www.vet.cornell.edu www.vet.cornell.edu

Cornell Vet school says: "The goal of treatment is to resolve diarrhea and other clinical signs. Dogs without symptoms may not require treatment. "

That's exactly what I have done. If a dog IS symptomatic (acute or sudden diarrhea, soft/watery stool with mucus and a foul odor or abdominal discomfort) it was off to the vet and the treatment was usually metronidazole for a week or 10 days.

Which is pretty much still the treatment for giardia. Sometimes they will dose with both metronidazole and Fenbendazole (Panacur).

If you work your dog outside, it will probably pick up giardia.

In my case, I could treat my dogs right now to the tune of about $500 since they say even the dog with the negative test may have it as the tests are not 100%. I could complete the regimen, clean the whole house as they say, wash everything the dogs sit on and bathe the dogs after completing meds. Then I could take them out for a run and some dummy work and they'd pick up some giardia cysts on the first trip outside.

I think I'm going with Cornell. If they show symptoms, I'll treat them.

Your thoughts?
 
Chestle said:
Just had the annual checkups for the Labs. 2 out of 3 showed giardia in the fecal test. (new send-it-out-to-a-laboratory fecal test is $56 now!) So the vet prescribes ~ $160 in meds for each dog.

Now a little history. I've had Labs since '81. Always got checkups, always had fecal tests done. Until vets started sending fecal tests out to laboratory, they did fecal flotation test with salt. Poop sank, parasite eggs floated to the top. Giardia are microscopic protozoan parasites; the flotation tests didn't show them. So for 40+ years I never had a vet tell me the fecal test showed giardia.

Giardia are everywhere in the environment. It's almost unavoidable. "Giardia parasites can be transmitted by eating or sniffing the cysts from contaminated surfaces like grass at the park, or by drinking contaminated water. Since dogs explore the world around them by putting things in their mouths, there are plenty of ways your dog can pick up the parasite in their environment, whether it is by chewing on a stick, eating (or just sniffing) poop, or drinking from a puddle."

So odds are that over the last 40+ years some or all of my dogs had Giardia. So what to do?

Giardia: Infection, treatment and prevention

Overview Giardiasis is a common parasitic infection that can cause diarrhea in dogs. It is caused by an intestinal parasite called Giardia, which can be found in feces-contaminated soil, food and water. Some dogs infected with Giardia may not show any signs of infection, but younger dogs or dogs...
www.vet.cornell.edu www.vet.cornell.edu

Cornell Vet school says: "The goal of treatment is to resolve diarrhea and other clinical signs. Dogs without symptoms may not require treatment. "

That's exactly what I have done. If a dog IS symptomatic (acute or sudden diarrhea, soft/watery stool with mucus and a foul odor or abdominal discomfort) it was off to the vet and the treatment was usually metronidazole for a week or 10 days.

Which is pretty much still the treatment for giardia. Sometimes they will dose with both metronidazole and Fenbendazole (Panacur).

If you work your dog outside, it will probably pick up giardia.

In my case, I could treat my dogs right now to the tune of about $500 since they say even the dog with the negative test may have it as the tests are not 100%. I could complete the regimen, clean the whole house as they say, wash everything the dogs sit on and bathe the dogs after completing meds. Then I could take them out for a run and some dummy work and they'd pick up some giardia cysts on the first trip outside.

I think I'm going with Cornell. If they show symptoms, I'll treat them.

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
That's how I deal with it. I don't think I have ever heard of an untreated case suddenly turning bad when symptoms weren't present. My dogs drink from streams all the time, so they probably have had mild cases before. I try to only let them drinking running water, but they like to play in any water and certainly drink some then too.
 
I've always had 2 labs and no problems with giardia, but our little rescue dog got giardia bad
and I assume that was from the labs. The little dog was pretty sick but recovered after treatment.

The labs swim in beaver territory most everyday and likely giardia is endemic to them
while the little dog was basically a house dog, not having the exposure the labs likely have.
 
Suspect my dogs have it or had it at times. I treat runny stool when I see it and if it looks like dog isn't well. Okay stool I am not looking for a solution to what I don't consider a real issue. I've had it once and I'm pretty sure the dogs didn't give it to me, only my own stupidity.
 
The idea of treating a dog with no symptoms seems wasteful. I have had dogs symptomatic a couple times and treated with metronidazole but never was told to do a deep cleaning of house etc. Maybe the vet schools are teaching a new protocol set.

PS Metronidazole is available at pet food stores for treating fish. It is the same stuff and is really cheap with no prescription needed
 
I agree. If you look at various vet schools treatment, it's the meds, disinfecting/washing everything in your house or kennel that the dog has touched, washing the dog with a chlorhexidine shampoo, etc., etc.

After all that, re-infection is almost guaranteed because giardia is basically everywhere outside.

I'm almost convinced this is a new way for vet clinics to improve their profit ratio. First of all, there's really no need for a more expensive sent out laboratory fecal test. The old in-house floatation test they've been doing forever still works for normal parasites. The meds are expensive from the vet, $160 from mine. As Gatzby points out, Metronidazole is cheap. My vet is marking meds up about 150% compared to Valley Vet Supply.

Even if you sanitize everything indoors and outdoors on your property, sniffing in a single giardia cyst will re-infect. So, I'll treat it myself when I see the clinical signs.
 
I’m constantly surprised how many people don’t do their own farm supply bought parasite treatment. Ivermectin 1st of the month 1 dose per dog. Panacur 15th of the the month 3 days per dog and this is confirmed by my long time vet who is very talented and honest. I will not post dosage because I don’t want to hear it from everyone who is against this. I will say the information is out there well known by many high level trainers and breeders in the field trial and hunting community. I will say this, if you have multiple dogs this approach will save you considerable money. Do with this information as you wish.
 
I run labs. They live/swim in giardia infest waters. Unless diarrhea is an issue, it makes no sense to treat it. It will just re-establish in the dog. I have no idea why it suddenly becomes an issue, but we are on our 6th generation and have only treated a handful of times. The worst was an 8 week old pup that the breeder had allowed to swim in her "training" pond and had diarrhea for weeks. The vets were concerned about giving metronidazole to a dog that young. She survived and had one more occurrence later in life, if memory serves. For those uncomfortable with buying metro over the counter, have your vet write a prescription to the local Walmart (or similar) pharmacy. The last we bought cost us $4.

We do treat for heartworms, so they get wormed monthly. I'm concerned that by using one type of wormer, the parasite is going to become resistant. We rotated wormers with horses to try to address that issue, but the dog world doesn't seem to be concerned?
 
I had never really heard of it until my last puppy purchase. I had bought dogs from friends or private individuals my whole life then decided to buy my last English pointers from a kennel/trainer. One of the 2 had it we came to find out after the diarrhea started and she wouldn't gain weight. It's a tough deal, tons of sterilizing and meds and somehow the other puppy didn't get it but I feel like it set the one back quite a bit. It's everywhere, I think some must just be more susceptible. Hope I never deal with it again though.
 
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